Pictured is a cicada during the large brood emergence in Champaign County a few years ago. The emergence this year will concentrate on other nearby states.
Photo by Brenda Burns
By Dave Case
On Fertile Ground
El Niño — La Niña? Why does it matter? Does it matter?
During El Niño, trade winds weaken. Warm water is pushed back east, toward the west coast of the Americas.
La Niña has the opposite effect of El Niño. During La Niña events, trade winds are even stronger than usual, pushing more warm water toward Asia. Off the west coast of the Americas, upwelling increases, bringing cold, nutrient-rich water to the surface. In general, the warmest years are El Niño, coldest are La Niña.
The Bureau of Meteorology says El Niño has ended and Pacific Ocean conditions have returned to neutral. La Nina events are normally associated with above average winter, spring, and early summer rainfall over much of Australia, and an increased risk of flooding El Niño is more associated with dry weather and conditions favoring bushfires. Forecasts indicate La Niña could be on the way.
What’s the big deal on cicadas in Champaign County? Are they coming?
Yes and no! Two broods are indeed emerging but not around here. Brood XIII will emerge mainly in Northern Illinois (5 Midwestern states) and Brood XIX will emerge in the Southeastern U.S. (19 states). A dual emergence only happens every 221 years! Travel to Indiana and Illinois to see the overlap, specifically eastern Illinois and south of Chicago will they overlap. The year 2245 is the next overlap.
Guess I’ll miss them both!
Other Cicada facts:
There will be a trillion Cicadas in the U.S. this Spring!
They emerge when the soil temperature reaches 64 degrees in the top layer.
Males do the singing, females are quiet.
They only eat liquids, no solid food for them.
They do have a few benefits. Their tunneling aerates the soil. Their bodies, when they decay, add nitrogen and other nutrients.
Perfect Lawn? Is it possible? What does it take?
Are you ready to turn your yard into a championship level fairway quality lawn? If yes, read on! If satisfied, see you next month.
1) The foundation to a healthy, green lawn is nutrient rich soil. Premium soil helps withstand drought, wards off disease and pests and develops a deep sturdy root system. So, start with a soil test to see exactly what you have and more importantly what you are deficient in.
2) Have a consistent mowing schedule. Mow, when necessary, instead of a specific schedule. Adjust your mower to the maximum mowing height possible. For us, we mow at 4 ¼” and have been doing this for years and it really works to keep our lawn healthy and weeds to a minimum. Try it! You will like it and your grass will love it.
3) Water is welcome. Grass needs about an inch a week via rainfall or irrigation.
4) Don’t wait to remove weeds. Get them early. I put on a pre-emerge then follow up here and there with spot spraying anything that needs attention. A thick, lush lawn doesn’t allow room for weeds. Mow high!
How do you know if you are mowing too short?
1) The health of your lawn suffers. Look for thin and sparse spots.
2) Weeds are abundant, especially crabgrass and dandelion.
3) Insects move in. Look for Grubs.
4) Brown patches. Short mowing means you’ve cut into the crown or growing point.
5) Diseases are frequent. Diseases like Red Thread and Summer patch.
6) Summer heat is a killer. Wilting and brown blades are warning signs.
7) Your mower is under additional stress. A mower will struggle trying to cut off so much at once. Plus, you need more fertilizer, more pesticides, and more grass seed.
Champaign County Ag Sector
It’s Spring weed control time! Four ways to optimize what you spray.
1) Watch the weather. They work slower under cool conditions. Cold nights less than 40 degrees are not conducive. Wait till a few days of warm, sunny weather before applying.
2) Apply herbicides early which is tough with #1 above but it’s easier to kill smaller weeds.
3) Overcome antagonism. Tank mixing is necessary with all our weed species but follow instructions from the label or your supplier.
4) Don’t apply your residual too early. Most residual herbicides last 4-6 weeks.
What’s preventing a new era of herbicides?
1) Some wonder, why so long since the last new Mode of Action (MOA). It’s been 30 years. We’ve had new products and new names, but these “new” products are just new premixes or revised formulations.
2) It is very hard to discover new MOA’s. Estimated for every 150,000 molecules analyzed, only one may have potential. This also adds to the cost, which is estimated to be $250mm to $300mm per product to get to market!
3) Testing is rigorous and can take 10 years or more.
4) It must be practical. Working on a variety of crops is good as well as working on a variety of weeds. Big volume crops like corn and soybeans are targeted first, specialty crops can be added later. If it controls tough weeds like palmer amaranth, ragweed or other resistant species, that helps. If it only controls a small spectrum or weeds that aren’t truly problematic it gets discarded and/or archived.
For 2024, pundits are saying 90 mm acres of corn, down 5%- and 86.5-mm acres of beans, up 3%. Winter wheat for this year is at 24.5 mm acres, down 1%.
In other news, Bayer is working on a Roundup “substitute.” Look for it around 2028.
Question or comments? Email me at [email protected].
A graduate of the University of Kentucky, Dave Case majored in Agronomy and Ag Econ with an emphasis in Weed Science. Dave’s career spanned Champaign Landmark, Crow’s Hybrid Corn Company and 30 years with Bayer CropScience. In 2018, Case formed Case Ag Consulting LLC. He is a member of Alpha Gamma Rho Agricultural Fraternity. He is on the Board of Directors of the Agribusiness Association of Kentucky, Chairman of the Ohio AgriBusiness Association Educational Trust Foundation and Secretary of the Alpha Gamma Rho Alumni Board. He is on the Board of Directors of the Champaign Family YMCA, Champaign County Historical Society Agricultural Capital Campaign Committee and is a Trustee for the Champaign County Farm Bureau. Dave and his wife Dorothy live on a small farm south of Urbana where they raise goats, cattle, chickens and various crops and they donate all profits to Pancreatic Cancer Research. Dave can be reached at [email protected].
